sandwiches | Wander Argentina

Mark’s Deli and Coffee House brings a taste of the Big Apple to the upscale confines of Palermo Soho. Here you’ll find stacked made-to-order deli sandwiches on home-baked breads, an interesting variety of salads and specialty coffee drinks being dished out to a constant flow of cash splashing Palermo elite and guidebook-toting foreigners.

The refreshing selection of bread at Mark’s includes normally scarce options such as whole wheat and rye and cheese or black olive baguettes.

Two particularly tasty sandwiches, made with the customer’s choice of bread, are the pastrami, cucumber, pickles, lettuce and Dijon mustard and the grilled chicken, made with apples, pancetta and blue cheese. All sandwiches can be toasted to warm things up in the winter months.

The healthier options at Mark’s Deli are the fresh salads. The most exquisite is the fresh Special Salad: smoked salmon, Brie and arugula. Both sandwiches and salads are large; true to American style, the notion of a snack doesn’t exist at Mark’s Deli.

To wash it all down try the homemade lemonade or fresh fruit smoothies, the kiwi is a particularly flavorful. Specialty coffee drinks include the Iced Mocha, or for something with a little more guts, the Absolut Vanilla Coffee.

New York Cheesecake & Other Desserts

A large teatime and dessert menu includes muffins, brownies, chocolate chip cookies and baked tarts. The best on the menu though is the cheesecake. The texture is as thick as you would find in New York and the biscuit base is not too sweet. A zesty fruit coulis finishes off the order and as with everything at Mark’s Deli, the portion is large enough to share.

The U.S.-style business model is so well emulated here that one might suspect that Mark’s Deli is a foreign-owned enterprise, but it is the brainchild of Argentine, Marcos Mantecón who brazenly opened up the cafe in 2002, shortly after Argentina’s devastating economic crisis.

Mantecón’s idea proved to be an immediate success, especially among the growing number of foreigners in the area. Today, waiting for 20 minutes to be seated at Mark’s is not uncommon, particularly between 2pm and 5pm on the weekends. This considering that there are twelve tables inside, a breakfast bar and an outside patio area, accommodating another five tables.

One drawback for the near-sited is that there is no menu that you can hold in your hand here — you’ll have to crane your neck from your table in order to read the menu options, written on two blackboards above the service counter. Another is that the quality of the services varies more than the food.

Although Mark’s may seem on the pricey side for residents (and only accepts cash) the deli is fresh, the portions are generous and in straight-forward New York style, there’s no service charge.

—by Tracey Chandler

Mark’s Deli -$$/$$$
El Salvador 4701 (corner of Armenia)
Palermo Soho
Tel: 4832-62 44

• Hours: Mon-Sat: 8:30am-9:30pm; Sun: 10:30am-9pm
• cash only
• wifi

* Editors Note: This cafe is now closed.

A postal themed cafe and pastry shop a stone’s throw from the tombs of Recoleta cemetery, Post•Data is so twee and wonderfully decorated that Hansel and Gretel are probably regular customers. Pretty stamps form the stripes on the wallpaper, old postcards and letters dangle from the ceiling as mobiles and vivid colors glisten on the desserts in the pastry case. The chatty staff are clearly passionate about their workplace and happily offer samplers and recommendations.

The timing of the opening of Post•Data at the end of 2009 was brave. It was the beginning of a sticky summer that saw most city-dwellers flee to the sea, with swine flu and economic problems affecting tourism and the willingness of locals to part with their pesos. But today, thanks to word of mouth in lieu of advertising, the cafe is steadily building a loyal clientele.

The postcard shaped menu has an extensive list deli style options; bagels, wraps, sandwiches and salads, each named after a global destination. Two of the menu’s best dishes are the York; roast beef, caramelized onion, pickle and mayonnaise and the Copenhagen; smoked salmon, herby cream cheese, sun dried tomatoes and arugula. Those in search of bagels will be pleased with the variety here: Parmesan, sun dried tomato, poppy seed, onion, sesame seed, vegetarian, wholegrain, garlic and last (and probably least), plain. To wash it all down try the juices made with hard-to-find fruits brought in from Colombia including mango, passion fruit, soursop and mulberry.

As good as the main dishes are, only a militant dieter would bypass dessert here. The pastries, mousses, macaroons, cookies, cakes and crumbles are hard to resist, some are topped with gravity defying whipped marshmallow frosting whilst others ooze the thick, caramel-like local specialty, dulce de leche. Continuing the international theme, Post•Data also offer Argentine interpretations of Belgian chocolates, American cupcakes and even fortune cookies.

At Post•Data, it is the little touches that add charm, such as the hand-crafted British red telephone boxes in which you receive your bill and the ‘postal packaging’ for the take away goodies. A post office themed café in Recoleta may seem like just a quaint gathering place for the elderly senoras of the neighborhood, but with the attentive service and delicious homemade snacks, Post•Data delivers on its motto of ‘a sweet message’.

— by George Warren

Post•Data – $$
Azcuenaga 1739
Recoleta
Tel: 4803 0496

•Wifi
•Hours: 9am-8pm (Monday-Wednesday)
9am-10pm (Thursday – Saturday)